LAURA TELFORD

"Innovative and passionate: Rotaract is here to stay"

Laura is the current Vice Chair of Rotaract Australia for the 2021-22 Rotary year as well as the 2021 Rotaract Australia’s Rotaractor of the Year.
Laura first became aware of Rotary while working as journalist running a paper in outback the small outback town in Queensland called St George. When she moved to Port Macquarie on the Mid North Coast of NSW for work in 2017 she quickly became involved with the local Rotaract Club.
Fast forward a few weeks and she was inducted as the club’s Communications Director and a couple of months later the District Rotaract Representative for D9650.
She held the position of club Communications Director for three years while simultaneously holding the DRR position before also taking on the role of Rotaract Australia Communication Director for the 2019-20 year as well as sitting a number of local Rotary Club boards.
In June 2019 she was awarded a Paul Harris Fellow and was a finalist in the 2020 Australia Day Awards in the Young Citizen of the Year category in the Port Macquarie Hastings Council region for her work advocating for young people.
In March of 2020 Laura moved back to Adelaide, South Australia for work and continued in her role as DRR in D9650 (as well as District bulletin editor) as well as being re-elected as Rotaract Australia Communications Director for the 2020-21 year.
Early during the COVID-19 lockdown Laura also founded the Chats by Rotaract Australia podcast designed to connect Rotaractors across Australia during isolation. The hugely successful podcast has followers around the world and is about to launch season two.
In September 2020 she was additionally elected to the role of District Rotaract Representative for D9510 and on top of all her other duties and threw herself into Rotaract and Rotary life in Adelaide as a member of the Rotaract Club of Adelaide City.
In her professional life Laura is currently a senior communications officer at the Australian Electoral Commission based in Canberra, ACT since July 2021.